His Baby Girl
by The Clown Princess
Summary: T Rating for now "She is going away from you. She is a distraction from your work" My throat swelled up and tears pricked my eyes. "NO BRING HER BACK." I kept saying "I'm sorr-""BRING MY BABY BACK." He still refused, just continued to ignore my cries. My daughter my baby my flesh and blood was gone.
1. The Baby of the Sun Hits New York City

Athena and I walked in Silence to the throne. Athena was holding my youngest daughter Cassandra. As we walk in silence I started to wonder why Zeus has called for my child and I. "Athena," I stared. "Yes Apollo." She said while looking at me. "Do you know why Zeus has summoned us?" I asked her. "Yes but I was told not to inform you." She responded. I just nodded. Once we reached the door she looked at me sympathetically. "I'm so sorry." She muttered. Confuse I open the door and walked in not before looking at my pride and joy in her arms. Cassandra looked like me, just like me and I was glad of it. I loved her a lot. I may have other children but Cassandra stood out. Unlike my other kids that resembled their mother, Cassandra looked like me. She had dark brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. The only thing that stood out was that she was paler then me. Cassandra is 4 and ½ months old. As I walk into the room Athena walked next to Zeus, Cassandra still in her arms. "Apollo" Zeus said. "Zeus, why have you called Cassandra and I?" I asked him. "I am so sorry." He told me. "Why." Zeus looked at Athena and nodded. I looked to Athena and notice she was started to fade meaning Cassandra also started to fade. "WHERE IS SHE TAKING CASSANDRA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled. "She is going away from you. She is a distraction from your work" My throat swelled up and tears pricked my eyes. "NO BRING HER BACK." I kept saying "I'm sorr-""BRING MY BABY BACK." He still refused, just continued to ignore my cries. My daughter my baby my flesh and blood was gone.

Athena reappeared so where in New York, baby Cassandra still in her arms. She held her tight against her chest. The city was loud and full of color. Athena looked down at niece. Her eyes soften as she stared into the bright blue eyes of the child in her arms. She walked around the city till she found an orphanage. That's where she left Cassandra. _She will be alright. She has to be alright._

As a child Cassandra was extremely beautiful. Her dark brown locks were curly and reached her shoulders. Her large pale blue eyes looked electric because of fair skin. She had long eyelashes that every time she blinked she could blow people down. She also had a small nose and pink lips. She had big pink cheeks. As a child she was kind and quite. People would always want to be around her. When she reached the age of 3 was when she was adopted by a young newly-wed couple who she would consider her real mother and father.

The older Cassandra got the stronger she got to. The older she got the more the male gender (and some of the female) noticed her. Cassandra was always calm and relaxed, but school that wasn't always the case. Because of her ADHD and dyslexia she would have trouble in school. She would get so frustrated she would walk out of class all red faced. She would day dream and get in trouble. Her parents though were very understanding. Cassandra's parents understood how she felt. They knew that it wasn't her fault. So they didn't blame her.

Cassandra did not know who her real parents are or what she really is. It never really bothered he, she loved her family so it was fine by her. She had other things to worry about like school, well Yancy Academy to be specific.


	2. I Think Swallowed My Heart

(They are the same age Percy was in the movie)

Cassandra sat across from Percy and next to a brown haired girl that was asleep. She watched as Nancy Bobofit a freckly, redheaded girl kept hitting Grover in the back of the head with nasty chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. Grover was an easy target because he was different. He was scrawny and he cried when he got frustrated. On top of all that, he was crippled. Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair; she knew Percy couldn't do anything back at her do anything back because the headmaster had threatened him with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. The only way Cassandra knows this is because she received the same threat. "Nancy quit it." Cassandra attempted to stop her. All Nancy did was stop for about a minute that she continued again. "I'm going to kill her," Percy mumbled. Grover tried to calm him down. "It's ok. I like peanut butter." He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. "That's it." Percy stared to get up, but Grover pulled him down. Cassandra placed a hand on his knee. "Percy we're already on probation," she reminded him. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens. We can't risk it" Percy looks down at the perfect manicured on his knee. He felt that spot start to tingle. He felt his face heat up, hoping that she would not notice and looked up at her. Percy looked up at her face and saw her small understanding smile. He smiled right back at her and calm down. When the bus finally arrived at the school Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. Cassandra, Percy, and Grover walked together as Mr. Brunner rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding them through the big echoey galleries. As the class walked Percy's hand brushed against Cassandra's and the feeling he got was unbelievable. The electricity that ran through Percy's arm was unreal. He noticed that they were gathered around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, while Mr. Brunner started telling them how it was a grave marker, a steel, for a girl about our age. Percy tried to listen to what he was saying because it was kind of interesting but it was kind of hard with Casey A.K.A Cassandra standing right next to him, their hands brushing every second. Casey didn't mean didn't touch his hand on purpose. She felt the shock when their hands but it wasn't as strong as when Percy felt it. Mr. Brunner continued to explain but people started talking around them. Cassey would tell them to shut up Mrs. Dodds always give her the evil eye. Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who was always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. From her first day, Mrs. Dodds love Nancy Bobofit and figured Percy and Cassey were the Devil spawn. After about a month of Mrs. Dodds teaching Cassey told Grover she didn't think she was human. He looked at her, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right." Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, Cassey and Percy both turned and in sync said "Will you _shut up?" _ Them saying it at the same time made it come out louder then they meant. The whole group laughed. Mr. Burnner stopped his story. "Mr. Jackson, Ms. Tyler," he said," Did you have a comment?" While Percy's face turned red, Cassandra answered Cool, calm, and collective "No, sir."

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps Cassandra you'll tell us what this pictures represents?" Cassey looked at the carving and recognized it immediately. "That's Kronos eating his kids." She answered with confidence. "Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. He then turned to Percy. "And he did this because…" "Well…"Percy thought for a moment trying to remember "Kronos was the king god, and-"

"Titan" Cassey corrected.

"Yes titan and he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus and um…" Percy shook his brain trying to remember. "She gave him a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into throwing up his brothers and sisters and so there was a war between the gods and the titans and the gods won." Cassey finished. Cassey looked at Percy and gave him a small side smile. Percy hoped his cheeks didn't heat up. Behind both Percy and Cassey Nancy mumbled to her friends "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids."

"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, " to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered. "Shut up" Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair. Percy thought about the question "I don't know sir." "I see." Mr. Brunner said, "How about you Ms. Taylor." "No I'm sorry I don't" Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well then half credit. Let's continue." Through the rest of the trip the trio stuck together. They looked at painting, artifacts, and other things. When lunch came around the class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where they could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Grover, Percy, and Cassey sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. Cassey sat in the middle of Percy and Grover. Percy moved closer to Cassey without her noticing. He was so close now that their legs were pressed together. Cassey didn't think about it too much. She felt it, she felt him scoot over, felt his leg touch hers, felt the shock. But she didn't think much of it. Percy's leg felt like it was on fire. The sensation was great, Amazing even. Just by touching her leg he felt like he was going to catch on fire. Cassey was always ran hot, temperate wise, and Percy could fell her heat even through the layers of clothes in between them. Percy sat there for a couple of seconds just sucking in the feeling of being this close to her. How is he supposed to act natural if every time he was near her his heart felt like it was in his throat? What was he going to do?


	3. My Teacher Tried To Eat Me Not Cool

"Did you get detention?" Cassey "Nah," Percy said. "Not from Brunner. I wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean- I'm not a genius." "That means he cares Percy." Cassey told him. "Yea but still." Percy muttered. Cassey was about to take a bite out of her apple when Nancy appeared in front of her with her ugly friends. She dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap. "Oops." She grinned at Cassey with her crooked teeth. Percy and Cassey tried to stay cool. Cassey was so mad her mind went black. What she didn't know was so did Percy's. They never remembered touching her but the ne next thing they knew Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain with a big red burn mark, screaming "CASSANDRA PERCY PUSHED ME IN! CASSANDRA HURT ME"

Mrs. Dodds materialized next to them. Some kids whispering: "did you see-"

"The mark just appeared"

"The water like it grabbed her-"

They had no idea what everyone was talking about. As soon as Ms. Dodds was sure little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt and all she turned to them mostly focused on Cassey and slightly on Percy.

"Now, honey-""I know," She grumbled. "A month's erasing workbooks."

"Come with me." She told both of them.

"Wait! It was me I hurt her." Grover yelled.

"No you wait here." She grabbed Cassey and Percy and walked. Cassey looked back at Grover to see him freaking out. When she looked back Ms. Dodds was at the top of the steps. _How'd she get there so fast?_ She thought.

Walking in the museum with Percy she noticed Ms. Dodds was already down the hall. They continued walking, still wondering how she got there so quick. Following Ms. Dodds in to a room she disappeared. They look back and noticed she was in front of a marble statue making a weird growling noise.

Thunder shook the building.

"We are not fools, Cassey Taylor and Percy Jackson," Ms. Dodds said "It was only a matter of time before we found you both out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

Cassey locked at Ms. Dodds confused. _Suffer less pain. _What_ is she talking about?_

_Cassandra's P.O.V_

Raising and eyebrow I look at Percy to see if he knew what she was talking about._ Nope _he is just as clueless as me.

"Well" she demanded.

"Ma'am, we don't…"

"Your time is up," she hissed.

Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons. Then things got even stranger.

Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen and a ring in his hand. "What ho, Percy, Cassey!" he shouted, and the items through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me. With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ring out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a ring anymore. It was one of Mr. Brunner's bronze swords, which he always used on tournament day.

Mrs. Dodds spun toward Percy with a murderous look in her eyes. She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew straight at him. Absolute terror ran through my body. Then Percy swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hiss! Hurt, she turned to me. When she came at me I swung and the sword went right through her chest. At least I think it was her chest. Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. Turning to Percy, who by the way looked like he just threw up, "Did that just happen?" I asked. "I think it did." He responded. There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.

Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody but Percy was there with me. We went back outside, when it had started to rain. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain the red mark still there, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt". Turning to Percy I looked at him, giving him a look as if asking who is she talking about. I said, "Who?" "Our teacher, Duh!" I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. "Percy do you any idea what she's talking about?" I asked him. "I was hoping you did." Percy asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was. He said, "Who?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with Percy. "Not funny, man, "Percy told him. "This is serious. "Thunder boomed overhead. I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.

He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please tell Mr. Jackson own writing utensil in the future, Ms. Taylor, ah yes my ring thank you for finding it" I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding them. Sir, "I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?" He stared at me blankly. "Who," "The other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, The pre-algebra teacher." He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Cassey, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right dear?"

_PERCY'S P.O.V_

I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty- four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Every so often Cassey and I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at us like we was psycho. It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

Almost.

But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying. Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.

I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. Cassey was also very snappy. She uses to have better grades then me her C's and B's went to Fs and the occasional D. She would sass anyone who would look at her funny or really even look at her. If Nancy even went near her it was trouble.

Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good. The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy

Fine, I told myself, just fine.

I was homesick.

I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.

And yet, there were things I'd miss at Yancy, the view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. I'd miss Cassey, The way she would always make me feel better even if it was just by looking at me. I would miss the way she would smile in really awkward situations, let's face I like her, a lot.


	4. My Teachers a Horse?

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.  
>The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. "Hey Percy," I heard Cassey's voice. Looking up I see <span>her<span> leaning against the door frame. "You ok? You look like crap." She asked me. "I'm just stressed." I told her while flopping on my bed. Walking over to me she asked "Why?" "This Latin test and what happened at the museum." She climbed onto my bed and laying on me. "I was just going to talk to Mr. Brunner wanna come?" She asked. "I was gonna do the same thing." I told her. "Let's go then" she said while sitting up. I nodded and she got off and walked over to the door. I got up and thanked god she didn't notice my Red cheeks  
>We walked downstairs to the faculty offices in silence. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.<br>We were three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... Worried about Percy and Cassey, sir. "  
>We froze, Why was he worried?<br>I don't know about Cassey but I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you and the girl you like to an adult. I inched closer while she stayed at her spot.  
>"... Alone this summer, "Grover was saying."I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"<br>"We would only make matters worse by rushing them," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. Cassandra is ready though but I doubt she would want to go on without him " "But he may not have time. I know they will go together and the summer solstice deadline- ""Will have to be resolved without them, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can. Cassandra will just wait for him to be ready ""Sir, they saw her... "  
>"Their imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince them of that."<br>"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."  
>"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy and Cassey alive until next fall-"<br>The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. "Damn it Percy." Cassey hissed. Mr. Brunner went silent.  
>My heart hammering, I picked up the book and Cassey grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.<br>She opened the nearest door and slipped inside.  
>A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside the door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.<br>A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.  
>Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "<br>"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."  
>"Go back to the dorm, "Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "<br>"Don't remind me."  
>The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.<br>We waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.  
>Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and helped Cassey out. we made our way back up to the dorm.<br>Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.  
>"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You guys going to be ready for this test?"<br>I didn't answer Ilaced my fingers with Cassey and she tightened her grip.  
>"You both look awful. Like you've seen a ghost" He frowned. "Is everything okay?"<br>"We're fine, just tired."  
>"Percy I'll talk to you later ok." Cassey said looking just as bad as me.<br>"Bye Grover."  
>"Bye"<br>She smiled; kissed my cheek making them turn a light pink. Then she walked out of my room.  
>"What was that about?" Grover asked a small smirk on his face.<br>"It's nothing."  
>I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.<br>But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about Cassey and me behind our back. They thought we are in some kind of danger.


	5. Mama I'm In Love with a DemiGod

_PERCY'S P.O.V_

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... It's for the best. "

His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. Cassey looked angry at him. She looked up glared and looked back down at her test. I mumbled, "Okay, sir."

"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "My eyes stung. Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.

"Right," I said, trembling. "No, no, "Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... You're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-" "Thanks, "I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me. "Percy-"

But I was already gone. I heard the door slam and footsteps following me. "Go away." I muttered while walking faster. "Perc wait up." I hear Cassey's voice. I stopped walking. When Cassey caught up to me she didn't say a word. She just pulled up in to a hug. On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

The only people dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover and Cassey, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. They booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

Cassey said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?" Guess I wasn't the only one who couldn't take it. Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?" We confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... Not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?" I asked. He winced. "Look, Percy Cassey ... I was just worried for you both, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ... ""Grover-"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, really crappy liar." Cassey said with a slight smirk

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out 2 grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer". The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, Cassey was looking down at the card squinting, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half-"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... Summer address."

My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.

"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if we want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded. "Or ... Or if you guys need me."

"Why would we need you?"

It came out harsher than I meant it to. Cassey placed her hand in mine.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy Cassey, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."

I stared at him.

All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. Cassey would have screaming matches with Nancy when she bothered him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.

"Grover," Cassey said, "what exactly are you protecting us from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover, Cassey and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen. I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at Cassey. She was looking right back at them.

I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"

"Tell me they're not looking at you Cassey. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Why?" She answered still starring at the ladies

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

"We're getting on the bus, " he told me. "Come on. "

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside I followed but Cassey stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching Cassey. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. The passengers cheered. "Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. "Grover?" Cassey said. "Yeah?" "What are you not telling me?"

_CASSEY'S P.O.V_

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Cassey, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn. "

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something almost older.

He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "

"Yeah. Why is something wrong?" Grover was really starting to worry me. "This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Grover, " I said, he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station both of you. Promise me. "

This seemed like a strange request to me, but Percy and I promised he could.

"Is this like a superstition or something?" Percy asked.

No answer.

"Grover that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die? Like in the mythology" I asked him.

He looked at me mournfully, which freaked me out even more.

Grover was freaking me out, looking at Percy and I like we were dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?"

Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up (which was super weird but so far everything has been really weird), so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made Percy and I promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, Percy got his suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. "That little jerk didn't even say god bye." I muttered to myself while shaking my head. Leaning against the wall I waited for Grover. When he came out he spotted me and relaxed a bit. That's when he noticed Percy was missing. "Where is he?" he asked in a rushed voice. "When you went to the bathroom he grabbed all his stuff and left. He didn't even say bye." I told him while bitterly muttering the last part. "Oh no oh no..." Grover started muttering like he was on the bus. "Grover what's up man you've been acting really weird and it's really started to creep me out." "We got to get Percy and go." "Grover please explain." I begged as he hurried around grabbing my stuff while hailing a cab. "I'm sorry not yet, you'll know soon but not yet. It's not safe here." He said. We got in to the cab and Grover told the driver my address. "Promise when you can you'll tell me." I asked him.

"I promise."

_PERCY'S P.O.V_

Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. "East One-hundred-and-fourth and First, " I told the driver. I felt like crap because I didn't say goodbye to Cassey. She probably is super mad at me now. I hate it when she's mad at me.

Ok so a word about my mother before you meets her.

Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma. The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad. I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures. See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back. Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea. She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, and then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick-named him Smelly Gabe, I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts. Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... Well, when I came home is a good example. I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet. Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."

"Where's my mom?"

"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"

That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?

Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.

"I don't have any cash," I told him.

He raised a greasy eyebrow. Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else. "You took a taxi from the bus station, " he said. Probably paid with a twenty, got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof; he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?" Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe, "he said. "The kid just got here. "

"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.

Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony. "Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose." "Why are you so prissy your girlfriend dump you? Another thing your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!" I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study. " He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.

I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.

Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn while looking at Cassey. But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made Cassey and I promise we wouldn't go home without him . A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone- something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons. Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?" She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.

My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe. "Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"

We talked about school and her job and everything. "Some how's Cassey?" She asked me. My cheeks burned red. "S-s-she's fine." She smiled wide but she knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me. "I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."

My eyes widened. "Montauk?"

"Three nights-same cabin. "

"When?"

She smiled. "As soon as I get changed, And I talked to Cassey's parents they said she could come to if you want." I probably had a really stupid looking grin on right now but Cassey was coming so that didn't matter. "Really" "Yes really so when I get changed and pack the bags Cassey's parents will drop her off and then we will go." I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money and now we are going a WITH Cassey.

Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?" I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while, just until she was ready and Cassey was here to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here. "I was on my way, honey, " she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip with Cassey. " Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that and with the _ girl _?" I was fuming mad now, the way he said that _girl. _ Cassey is not just a _girl._

"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go. "

"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step-father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides, "she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works. "Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... It comes out of your clothes budget, right?"

"Yes, honey," my mother said.

"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."

"We'll be very careful."

Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game. " Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week. But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad. Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought? "I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now. "Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.

"Yeah, whatever, " he decided.

He went back to his game.


	6. Oh Shut Up Gabe

_PERCY'S P.O.V_

"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... Whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"

For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip. The doorbell rang and my mom went to go answer him. "Hello mister and Miss Taylor, Hi Cassey," "Hello, we just here to drop Cassey off." I heard them talk for a moment then I heard the door shut. So I guess they left. "Cassey Percy is in his room you could go see him if you want." "Ok, thanks Sally."

"Don't touch anything while going to his room. Don't want anything broken." I heard Gabe say. "Oh shut up Gabe" Cassey said. I heard he footsteps then a knock at my door. Opening the door I pulled her in to a hug, I missed her already. "Ok well hello to you too." She said smiling as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "Ok I'm sorry I left went I promised I'd stay and I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye or anything-""Percy its fine." Pulling from me she flopped down on my bed. Her shirt went up enough to allow me to see her tummy. Walking over to her I sat down next to her and pocked her side. "What was that for?" she asked while she sat up. "Why not?" I asked her. "You my friend are so weird." I simply smiled.

An hour later we were ready to leave.

Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car and for Cassey to pull hers, He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.

"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch. And I don't wanna see your grubby fingers on my car girl"

Like I'd be the one driving I was 15. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.

Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, Cassey made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over her heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair-case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.

Tugging Cassey into the back seat of the Camaro with me I told my mom to step on it.

Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.

I loved the place.

We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad. I couldn't wait for Cassey to see it.

As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.

We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.

I guess I should explain the blue food.

See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.

When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told us stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told us about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.

Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.

"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful, But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes. "

Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud. "

I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.

"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... When he left?"

She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach, This cabin. "

"But... He knew me as a baby. "

"No, honey, He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born. "

I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... Something about my father, a warm glow, a smile.

I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me .I say Cassey look down and kick some sand. My Mom seemed to notice to. "Cassey is something wrong?" My mom asked. "No. It's just started thinking about my parents." "What about them are they sick?"

"No, I mean my real parents."  
>"What do you mean real parents?" I asked. She wasn't making any sense. "Percy I'm adopted and I started thinking about my dad and what I remember about him. Like how he was always warm and glowing. That's the reason I'm outside. He reminds me of the sun." She explained. Cassey is adopted. I thought the Taylor's were her real parents; you would never be able to tell. My mom gave her a small warm smile.<p>

When we went back to the cabin my mom asked, "Do you two mind sharing a bed?" I looked at Cassey and she looked at me and nodded. "No, don't worry, its fine." "Well that's good"

Everyone was ready for bed. Cassey got at the edge of the bed and flopped on me, "ugff." She laughed and rolled on me so now she was basically laying on me. "Do you mind?" she asked. "No, don't worry about it" and I really didn't. I liked it a lot.

That night I had a vivid dream.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuck-led somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder. Next to them was a dark figure holding a girl back with what looked like a sword against her throat. The girl was fighting against the figure. As she struggled the sword was pressed deeper in to her throat causing her to bleed. Looking closer I noticed the girl was Cassey! I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes. I saw the man drag his sword against her throat and I screamed, No!

I woke with a start.

Outside, it really was storming; the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery. Looking next to me I say Cassey was fine pressed up against me.

With the next thunderclap, my mom and Cassey woke up. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."

I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have for-gotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.

Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand, A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.

My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.

Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... He wasn't exactly Grover.

"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"

My mother looked at Cassey and I in terror not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.

"Percy, Cassey" she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"

I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing. Cassey was Tense next to me.

"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"

I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. Cassey's wide eyes meant she understood to. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on and where his legs should be ... Where his legs should be ...

My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy and Cassey. Tell me now!"

I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand and how they started at Cassey, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me and Cassey, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.

She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car, All three of you. Go!" Picking Cassey up because she seemed frozen ran to the car.

Grover ran for the Camaro but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.

Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.

_CASSANDRA'S P.O.V_

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind-shield. I didn't know how Sally could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas. Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to Percy in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag carpet pants. But, no, nope the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal, just perfect cause life wasn't weird enough. I sat closer to Percy. "Grover is this what you were talking about?" I asked him. Percy's eyebrows bunched up. "What are you talking about Cassey?" Percy asked "Yea Cassey it is." Grover answered. "Grover what's going on?" Percy asked again. "Are we going to camp?" I asked Grover. "Yea and I'll make sure you guys get there safe." Grover Answered. I nodded my head and moved even closer to Percy. "What are you guys talking about?" Percy asked again. "You'll see Percy we're almost there." His mother answered. He nodded and let it go. "So, you and my mom... Know each other?" Percy asked. Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you and Cassey ""Watching us?"

"Keeping tabs on you, making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being both your friend, "he added hastily. "I am your friend. "

"Urn ... What are you, exactly?"

"That doesn't matter right now. "

"Guys…" I started

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-"

Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"

I'm a goat from the waist down. "

"Guys..." I said a bit louder

"You just said it didn't matter. "

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"

"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?" Percy asked. "Were those old ladies at the fruit stand watching Cassey a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

"Of course."

"Then why-"

"The less both of you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are." "Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?" "Demi-god" I muttered the word just flowing from my mouth but Percy didn't hear me. The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail. "Percy," Sally said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety. "

"Safety from what? Who's after me? And why explain only to me not Cassey?"

"Cassey already knows, I had to tell her she said she was going somewhere so I had no choice. I didn't explain everything just the basics. " Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. ",And just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions. "

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"


	7. Burning Roofs Ain't Got Nothin On Me

PERCY'S P.O.V

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.

My mom made a hard left. Cassey slide into me as we swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The summer camp I told you about. " My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for Cassey and I's sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you, the place where Cassey was supposed to be sent when she turned 5."

"The place you didn't want me to go. "

"Please, dear, " my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger, both of you. "

"Because some old ladies cut yarn. "

"Those weren't old ladies, " Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means the fact they appeared in front of Cassey? They only do that when she's about to ... When someone's about to die. "

"Whoa. You said she." Cassey said

"No I didn't. I said 'someone. '"

"You meant 'she as in me. "

"I meant she, like 'someone.' Not you, you. "

"Cassey, Grover!" my mom said.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We're almost there, " my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile, Please, Please, Please, " I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive. Me doing this this made Cassey fall over because she was laying on me. "Oww" She moaned. I helped her back up. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill Cassey and I.

Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... And the sword he had thrown Cassey and me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling BOOM, and our car exploded.

I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."

"Percy!" my mom shouted.

"I'm okay... "

"Cassey?"  
>"Mhh I'm fine."<p>

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!

Then he groaned "Food, " and I knew there was hope. Turning around I see Cassey who had it worse. She some Cuts and was bleed real bad. She had a cut on her forehead and blood was running down her face. "Cassey are you ok!?" I asked. "Yea, Yea I'm fine." She said "Percy, " my mother said, "we have to ... " Her voice faltered.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

I swallowed hard. "Who is-"

"Percy Cassey," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car. "

My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. "Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Guys…" Cassey said, I looked at her and say that her hand was around the hot edges of the roof. "Oh my god" I started you panic. "No look its doesn't hurt." Cassey started to push on the Burning roof. The roof popped off. "Percy Cassey you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"

"Yes" Cassey said

I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line, " my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door. "

"Mom, you're coming too. "

Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover. "

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... Was his head. And the points that looked like horns ...

"He doesn't want us, " my mother told me. "He wants Cassey and you. Besides, I can't cross the property line. "

"But... "

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please. "

I got mad, then mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, mad at Cassey, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.

"We're going together. Come on, Mom. "

"I told you-"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover. "

I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.

Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist- high grass. I keeped looking back at Cassey as she walked with us. She was still bleeding and while she walked she started to sway.

Glancing back again, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under-wear-I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms-which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and- white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's-"

"Pasiphae's son, " Cassey said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you guys. " My mom said.

"But he's the Min-"

"Don't say his name, " she warned. "Names have power. "

The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least.

I glanced behind me again.

CASSEY'S P.O.V

I was in pain. A lot of pain as I a staggered behind Percy and his mother, putting my hand on my forehead I touched my cut. When I pulled my hand back it was wet and warm with blood. Shaking my head I tried to sped up to catch up the them. When I looked back behind me the bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.

"Food?" Grover moaned.

"Shhh, " I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" Percy asked

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough. "

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded."Percy Cassey, " Percy's mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all this?" Percy asked.

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping both of you near me. "

"Keeping us near you? But-"

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.

He'd smelled us.

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover looked like he wasn't getting any lighter.

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.

Percy's mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Cassey! Separate! Remember what I said. "

I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right it was our only chance. Percy and I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on us. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.

He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.

The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side. , I jumped to the side.

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward us this time, toward his mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as his mother had said and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.


	8. I Drool in my Sleep

_CASSEY'S P.O.V_

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Percy's mother, who was at the moment retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

"Run, Percy Cassey !" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

But Percy just stood there I tried to drag him along but he was frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told us to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.

"Mom!" Percy screamed as I screamed "Sally!"

She caught our eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Sally's neck, and she dissolved before our eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... Gone.

"No!" Percy screamed

Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.

The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.

Percy started to stripped off my red rain jacket. "Percy this is no time to get naked." I said sarcastically. He shot me a look before screaming

"Hey!" waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward him, shaking his meaty fists.

I had an idea-a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree next to Percy as he waved his red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking we'd jump out of the way at the last moment.

But it didn't happen like that.

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab us whichever way I tried to dodge.

Time slowed down.

My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. While Percy slide Under the Bull-man and swinging on his back

How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out and I didn't care. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly could of knocked my teeth out.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake us. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.

The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed us flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.

"Food!" Grover moaned.

_Damn it Grover shut the heck up! _ I screamed in my mind

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of Sally, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn I saw Percy grab onto the other one, nodding at him I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap!

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass while Percy landed near Grover his head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was a bit blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

The monster charged.

Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.

The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.

The monster was gone.

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen a women who was like my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover and Percy, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley while Percy followed holding his head, toward the lights of the farm-house. He was crying, calling for his mother, I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl. They both looked down at us and the girl said, "They are the ones. The must be. "

"Silence, Annabeth, " the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her inside. Ill grab the boy. "

_Percy's P.O.V_

I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals and warrior princesses. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.

I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.

When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?" I managed to croak, "What?"

She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."

Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.

The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.

A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes— at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.

When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.

On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.

My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.

"Careful," a familiar voice said.

Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy. So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And ...

"You and Cassey saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."

Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.

Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare. This was one of the two horns that Cassey ripped off.

"The Minotaur," I said.

"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea—"

"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."

Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"

"My mom. Is she really ..."

He looked down.

I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.

My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.

"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world. Cassey had to drag me here" He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.

"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.

Thunder rolled across the clear sky.

As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it. Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head. But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light. I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? No. That would never happen, he would never let me see her. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.

Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid—poor goat, satyr, whatever—looked as if he expected to be hit.

I said, "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was. I was supposed to _protect _you And Cassey."

"Did my mother ask you to protect us?"

"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."

"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.

"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.

I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies—my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.

Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.

"Was it good?" Grover asked.

I nodded.

"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.

"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."

His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."

"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Homemade." He sighed. "And how do you feel?"

"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."

"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"

"What do you mean?"

He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table.

"Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.

My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go. As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.

We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings. Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them, and then there was Cassey. Her hair was a couple inches below her shoulders and the edges were blond. Her eyes were still blue but they looked brighter. On her arm was a gold tattoo of a bow and arrow that almost looked like it was shining. Above that tattoo was an electric blue lightning bolt. She looked over to me and smiled.

The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels— what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.

"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. That's Cassey if but you already knew that. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron... ."

He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.

First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.

"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.

The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers _B_.

"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle." He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, _if _there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.

She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."

Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."

She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.

She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, _You killed a minotaur! _or _Wow, you're so awesome! _or something like that. Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."

While she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her Cassey laughed. Her laugh sounded like bells. It was a happy one that when you hear it you couldn't help but smile.

"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"

"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex—Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"

Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Pec," Cassey started"names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"House call?"

"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct the Two of you, We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you and Cassey were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."

I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.

"You came to Yancy just to teach us?" I asked.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother; let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.

"You _do _know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.

"I'm afraid not," I said.

"_sir_," Cassey coughed

"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.

"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all _civilized _young men to know the rules."

"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.

"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? What- what are _WE _doing here? Mr. Brun—Chiron—why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach us?"

Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question. Well about you the girl her I can understand"

He said while pointing at Cassey. She turned to me and gave me a small smile to try and make me feel better. The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile. Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, _I _was his star student. He expected _me _to have the right answer.


	9. Lover Boy, Huh

_CASSEY'S P.O.V_

_2 days ago_

The first thing I notice is that it's so bright, the banging in my head, the soreness in my muscles. Slowly I opened my eyes. "ughh" I moaned, my through dry. "Hello," I crocked "Percy, Gro..." "Hey, hey, hey take it easy." I heard a familiar voice say. Turning to my left I come face to face with Grover. As I slowly sat up I spoke, "Hey are you and Percy ok?" Grover chuckled slightly "you just faced a monster and dragged Percy and I about a mile and you're asking if I'm ok.' He said with a slight sarcastic tone. I simply nodded. Shaking his head he answered "Well we are fine. Percy is still out. oh and you've been out for about a day." My eyes widen _A DAY?!_ "Where are we?" I asked "Camp, come one I got a lot to show you." Grover answered while he grabbed my hand and hauled me up.

I walked next to Grover while also looking around. The camp itself was large, cabins and stations all around. Most of the kids at camp stopped and looked at me. They whispered about the new camper who was hold a blood covered horn. I feel like this is going to be a daily thing for a while. _Oh boy it better not be _I started to think.

Grover and I continued walking until we made it to a house. "This is the main house. Like the principal's office.'' Grover explained "Am I in trouble with the principle." I teased. Grover lightly chuckled. "Not yet." He joked back. He stepped forward and opened the door for me. "Why thank you kind sir." I stepped inside and noticed two people in the room. One was wearing a Hawaiian type shirt. The other one was… _Wait. No way. MR.B?! _"Mr.B?"

_Percy's POV_

"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'

"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."

"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"

"What?" I asked.

He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."

"Orientation film?" I asked.

"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"—

he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you and Cassandra have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in both of your lives. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."

I stared at the others around the table.

I waited for somebody to yell, _Not! _But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.

"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."

"Well, now," Chiron said. "God—capital _G_, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."

"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about—"

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

"Smaller?"

"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."

"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."

And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloudless day.

"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."

"Names are a very powerful thing Perc you gotta be careful." Cassey warned.

"But they're stories," I said. "They're—myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."

"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"—I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody but Cassey—"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come _so-o-o _far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."

"Mr. D you he just woke up, please cut him some slack." Cassey said

"Just because I like you and he is your lover boy doesn't mean have to like him too." Mr. D retorted.

"He' not-" Cassey protested weakly before sighing. _Lover boy, huh,_ I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.

"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that _immortal _means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"

I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.

"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.

"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call _you _a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?" My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."

"Oh perc" Cassey sighed

"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you." Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."

"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe. And a child that is being fought over" He looked at Cassey when he said that. Cassey just looked away, he checks had a slight punk tint to them.

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine. My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.

"Mr. D," Cassey warned, "your restrictions. You'll get in trouble"

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

"Dear me," He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!" More thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game. Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly!

Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you and Cassey the only child I like. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."

Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.

"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."

_"Di immortales, _Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."

I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.

"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."

"My lord Percy names are a powerful thing." Cassey warned again. I looked at her and nodded.

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"

"Y-yes, Mr. D."

"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"

"You're a god."

"Yes, child."

"A god. You."

"Here we go" Percy muttered to Chiron.

He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.

"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.

"No. No, sir."

The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, _again, _about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment." Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir." "

Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners. Cassandra Cabin number 1 is where you'll be officially staying."

"But that's Zue-" Cassey started before she was interrupted, "I know but that is where he wants you to stay. It will be best not to argue."

Cassey nodded her face closed off. Mr. D swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.


End file.
